Another friend goes

- FOOD: Cheap, good and filling meal at bus stop; crocodile (tastes like pork); Lao lao shot (tasted like tequila); popular Indian (I can see why); our local - Sabaidee restaurant with fab tuna sandwiches and pad thai.

- AREA: Much nicer bus back for just an extra dollar; quiet riverfront now the boat festival is over; cafes crammed with tourists; backpack pain (how I've grown to hate it); ripped travel trouser pain; Lao songs that I recognise.

- PEOPLE: Nice tuk-tuk man; better bus driver; sweet bargainers; shouting but harmless people.

- ACCOM: Hotel Bougnasouk again but this time a room with a view; Orchid Guesthouse splash out - not such a great room for 10 dollars with single, springy beds and towels that don't dry you; manky guesthouse with dirty, cracked, cockroached, 'sticky' room and a million ants marching the shared bathrooms that don't lock. It had a good pillow though!

- WEATHER: Can certainly feel the heat further South.


Thur 27th Oct: I think I woke the hotel staff up at 5.30am by tripping and nearly falling down the stairs! Good job though as the place was all locked up and they hadn't made the sandwich Jo had ordered.
A nice tuk-tuk man took us to the bus terminal where we caught the bus back to Vientiane. For just an extra dollar, we had a MUCH nicer bus than the rickety party bus that brought us here. Air con, smarter and a sane driver who drove the windy roads less jerkily. We stopped for lunch where a nice Mumsie lady sat us down and brought out rice, some meat thing, some egg thing and veg. Plus soup - all very cheap. The journey took 9 hours 30 mins and then we were back in the capital where we treated ourselves on Jo's last night to the Orchid Guesthouse - posh but the room wasn't so great for 10 dollars with single, springy beds and towels that should get the sack for not drying me at all.

It was strange to see the river front now the festival was over. SO quiet in comparison - no cars, no stalls, no restaurants set up, nothing!
We ate back at the sweet restaurant with the garden and then ate again later in the posh restaurant for Jo's final meal here. I had crocodile - chewy and a bit like pork with not too much taste. I felt drunk after half a bottle of wine but had a Lao Lao shot - tasted like tequila.


Fri 28th: Jo left and I was very sad to lose such a good travelling friend. Immediately everything started to go wrong and I couldn't make decisions. I booked a dodgy overnight bus ticket to Hanoi which the Lonely Planet says not to do and booked a manky room in a guesthouse with cracks all over the dirty walls; no mirror, bin or hooks and the shared bathroom separate to the room and FULL of ants marching around the walls (one bathroom didn't have hot water but had a mirror and the other had a dodgy lock).

The day improved - I had a nice breakfast on the river front road and went to the day market where some lovely, smiley women bargained sweetly. I pushed and shoved along with the others in the bank to get served and then just chilled in the hot sun.
In the evening I had a great Indian - very popular and so much choice. I experienced a man pacing around outside the restaurant shouting but he was harmless and a woman who came into the internet cafe to scream for a while, but she too was harmless. Then back to the manky room where I spent the night with a smelly blanket and a huge mosquito.


Sat 29th: I actually slept very well on the very hard bed (good pillow though) and had a lie in. I walked around for ages to find a cafe for breakfast that wasn't full with tourists and ended up at good old 'Sabaidee' restaurant - empty, calming and fantastic tuna sandwiches.
The frustration of the day was calling home and the line being awful. The second frustration of the day was my trusty travel trousers ripping on me so I had to sew them back up (now I look REALLY smart). The third frustration was packing up my backpack again which is now getting on my nerves.

I had dinner in a nice, relaxed restaurant even though it was full of tourists. It being Saturday night meant a few tables had been laid out by the river with romantic candles but it was nothing compared to how it had been at the boat festival.


Sun 30th: I captured the cockroach last night who had decided to share my sticky room with me. The day was spent on the internet and eating - breakfast in 'Shades' - cheap and good. Dinner in 'Sabaidee' - one of the best. I had pad thai to kill some time before my long bus journey to Vietnam but it wasn't the same without Jo.

I'm getting panicky now about going back into a manic country after having been in the land of ultimate chill and feeling so laid back. I like it here and have even started to recognise the Lao songs!
I had time to reminisce on my time here in the most laid back, slow paced country in the world.

In this heavily bombed, communist country with a small population, the people are so unbelievably chilled out. They say 'too much work is bad for the brain' and they avoid all stress (I like it). Therefore they are gentle bargainers (I like that too). They are very polite and regularly give a prayer type greeting, saying 'sabai-dii' constantly (it means hello, goodbye, how are you...). The only time they are not so polite is when queuing (first come, first served). It's a shame they don't realise how much they're polluting their country with the amount of litter carelessly dropped and chucked out of bus windows. At least the lack of traffic on the roads means the cities aren't as polluted as other countries and seem a lot more peaceful.
Ta-kraw is a popular sport where they stand in a circle and kick a rattan ball with their feet. A similar game is played kicking a shuttlecock type thing high in the air.

Lao food is spicy with lots of ginger and coconut. The freshwater fish from the Mekong is fantastic and Laos produces one of the world's best coffees (with sweet condensed milk). The French have left behind the benefits of gorgeous architecture and baguettes and pastries!
Beer Lao is good but I'm not so sure about their wine or Lao-lao (rice whiskey liquor, the same as Mekong or Samsun in other parts of S E Asia and not actually legal here!).

I have felt the most relaxed in this country than anywhere else on my trip - the mindblowingly stunning scenery makes the perfect place to contemplate life and totally de-stress. I'd like to visit the South one day as it's practically unspoilt and represents more of the 'real' Laos.

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